


All That Truly Matters

by ladyoneill



Series: Dark Side Of The Moon [52]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Babies, F/M, Fire, M/M, Mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-09
Updated: 2014-03-09
Packaged: 2018-01-15 04:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1290922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyoneill/pseuds/ladyoneill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's unusually hot and dry and the forest is a tinderbox.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All That Truly Matters

**Author's Note:**

> Originally supposed to be a part of my Hurt/Comfort February bingo challenge but that didn't happen, so bonus fic for y'all!

The summer is unusually dry for northern California. Dry and hot. Abnormally hot blooded the wolves are miserable, spending most of their days inside the air conditioning, but even there the cubs are restless. Stiles' days are spent trying to entertain his three children along with the other cubs in the Pack, to the point that most nights he collapses exhausted into bed next to his mate, hoping for a few hours of sleep before their six month old wakes up crying.

The house is stuffy, the air stale. Even at nearly midnight it's well over eighty degrees and too hot to open the windows. The ceiling fan makes a monotonous noise above his head as he lays in the too warm bed, wearing only a pair of threadbare boxer shorts. Next to him, Peter sleeps nude, the wolf nowhere near as modest as his human mate, but his sleep is restless.

Just as Stiles is about to drift to sleep, there's a banging on their door. Peter's already awake and on his feet and Stiles blinks blearily at him, realizing he heard whomever it is coming up the stairs.

The Alpha never sleeps deeply.

Propped up on his elbows, he takes a moment to admire his mate's firm ass, then the door is opened and Derek's pushing into the room, looking flustered and...frightened.

Fully awake, Stiles jumps out of the bed as Derek waves his arm towards the west, deeper into the Preserve.

"There's a fire. The Preserve's on fire, about two miles to the west." The aroma of smoke lingering on Derek's clothes hits Stiles and he wonders how the wolf, with his more sensitive nose, can stand it. "I called the fire department and the rangers as soon as I saw it, then ran here, but it'll take them a good half hour to reach it. It's spreading east, Peter."

Two miles is nothing to flames.

As Derek falls silent, awaiting orders, Stiles realizes something's wrong. The mate bond flies wide open and panic floods him.

It's not his.

"Peter?" Derek asks, and Stiles sees how his mate is quivering, eyes wide, mouth trying to form words.

Fire.

Peter's greatest fear next to losing his family.

Stiles takes over. "Get everyone up and out, head for town, just in case. Take only things that are truly irreplaceable."

Nodding, Derek heads for his pregnant mate, Cora and her twins, while Stiles runs to the dresser for shorts and a t-shirt. As he starts to dress, he notices that Peter hasn't moved, and the panic is still flowing into him. It's taking all he has to fight it and try to send calm back the other direction.

Finally, Stiles takes the risk and grabs his mate's shoulders, shaking him as hard as he can. "Snap out of it, dammit! Get dressed and get our cubs!"

The cubs. Fire. Smoke. Death.

His own calm shatters, and, as it does, Peter's panic fades. As Stiles wrings his hands, desperately wanting to go to his children, but frozen in place, Peter moves swiftly, dressing, grabbing up his wallet and keys, then Stiles' hand. "Get the cubs. Derek's already awakened them, is getting them dressed. I have some things to get and I'll meet you at the car." Stiles stares blankly at him until Peter barks his name, then he turns and flees out of their suite to the nursery for their youngest.

Carrying Emma and a stuffed diaper bag, he rounds up his older two, directing them to pack their prized possessions--teddy bears and photo cubes, plaster casts of tiny feet, and the pearl necklaces their papa adds to on each birthday. He keeps them as calm as he can, telling them they're going to surprise grandpa, but they sense his worry and Zoe, only two, starts to cry.

Derek's there to scoop her up, his other arm around Angelina, as they all head downstairs and out to the cars.

As soon as they reach outside, Stiles can smell the acrid smoke blowing towards them, accompanying the fire towards the house, but he also hears sirens heading deeper into the Preserve.

Peter comes up behind him, carrier bag on one shoulder, and he urges Stiles towards their SUV.

"Peter," he starts, worried, but his mate's hand cups the nape of his neck and he relaxes minutely.

"If it burns, we build again," Peter murmurs, but Stiles can still feel him, his despair and fear, the memories of loss. "It's just a building. This..." He gestures to the family, the Pack, as they scramble into cars, putting cubs into car seats and strapping them in. "Is all that truly matters."

*****

Curled on his father's couch with his eldest daughter who refuses to sleep, as Peter paces through the living room, Stiles listens on the police band, and when he hears the news, that the fire is out, less than a hundred yards from the Hale house, relief floods him, both his own and his mate's.

Peter collapses next to him, wrapping his arms around him, nuzzling against his cheek, and murmuring apologies.

"Peter," Stiles finally interrupts. "I understand, okay."

"I shouldn't have frozen," Peter grumbles and Stiles tries to soothe the self-disgust coming from his mate.

"You're only human."

Peter snorts and kisses Stiles cheek. "The cubs are all asleep." Even their eldest has finally dozed off, her head on Stiles' knee. "We'll go home in the morning, and then tomorrow afternoon I'm buying your father an air conditioner."

The ceiling fan, the fan sitting on the coffee table, and the open windows are doing nothing to diminish the pervasive heat, and Stiles chuckles tiredly as his eyes drift shut. At least they're far enough into town that there's no aroma of smoke.

As he slips into sleep, he feels something coming, not fire, a balm, so he's not at all surprised to be awakened by a thunderstorm that brings relief from the heat and threat of fire. Listening to the rain pounding on the roof, feeling the cool breeze blowing in through the window, he feels Peter smile in his sleep, feels the Pack bonds soothing and balanced wrapping around them all, and drifts away again in their embrace.

End


End file.
